British Comedy Guide
{{Short description|Website covering British comedy}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2019}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2019}}
{{Infobox website
| name = British Comedy Guide
| logo = BCG 2016 Logo.jpg
| screenshot = British Comedy Guide 2015.jpg
| caption = Screenshot of the BCG homepage on 15 January 2016
| url = {{URL|http://www.comedy.co.uk/|comedy.co.uk}}
| type = TV, radio, and film guide of British comedy
| registration = Required to post (free)
| owner = Mark Boosey and Aaron Brown
| launch_date = August 2003
| current_status = Active
}}
British Comedy Guide or BCG (formerly the British Sitcom Guide or BSG) is a British website covering British comedies.{{cite web|url=http://www.comedy.co.uk/about/|title=About the British Comedy Guide|publisher=British Comedy Guide|access-date=3 January 2011}}{{cite web |url=http://listorious.com/UKComedyNews |title=British Comedy Guide on Listorious |access-date=2010-02-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100918231852/http://listorious.com/UKComedyNews |archive-date=2010-09-18 }} BCG publishes guides to TV and radio situation comedy, sketch shows, comedy dramas, satire, variety and panel games. The website also runs The Comedy.co.uk Awards and hosts multiple podcast series.
Reportedly, British Comedy Guide attracts over 500,000 unique visitors a month, making it Britain's most-visited comedy-related reference website.{{cite web|url=http://www.suchsmallportions.com/person/mark-boosey|title=Mark Boosey|work=Such Small Portions |date=25 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160814214200/http://www.suchsmallportions.com/person/mark-boosey|archive-date=14 August 2016|url-status=live}}
Background
Image:British Comedy Guide Logo.jpg
File:British Comedy Guide (logo).jpg
The website was founded in August 2003 initially as the British Sitcom Guide (BSG), a website focused on British sitcom TV programmes. The website was created by Mark Boosey, a freelance web developer, originally as a hobby. However, in 2008, the remit of the website was relaunched as British Comedy Guide. Other features added since the site's re-launch in 2008 include a series of podcasts, a section featuring interviews with people working in the British comedy industry, and a Twitter-based news service.
The website went through another relaunch in 2016, where it underwent a redesign of the layout and a new logo which depicts a yellow crown on the word 'Guide'.
In 2015, BCG's data specialist Ian Wolf was awarded the inaugural "Unsung Hero" at the first FringePig Ham Fist awards for his work collating reviews during that year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe.{{cite web |url=http://www.comedy.co.uk/fringe/2015/features/fringe_pig_ham_fist_awards_2015/ |title=Inaugural FringePig Ham Fist Prize Winners Announced|publisher=British Comedy Guide|date=1 September 2015|access-date=23 November 2015}}
Key people
| class="wikitable" | |||
| style="background-color: #6699CC" width=5% | Ref
! style="background-color: #6699CC" width=10% | Joined ! style="background-color: #6699CC" width=40% | Person ! style="background-color: #6699CC" | Job Title(s) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| style="background-color: #F2F2F2;" | | |||
| style="background-color: #F2F2F2;" | | 2003 | Mark Boosey | Site Editor |
| style="background-color: #FFFFFF;" | | 2005 | Aaron Brown | Noise |
| style="background-color: #F2F2F2;" | | 2006 | Ian Dunn (aka Ian Wolf) | Data Specialist |
| style="background-color: #FFFFFF;" | | 2009 | Si Hawkins | Regular Columnist |
| style="background-color: #F2F2F2;" | |
Podcasts
BCG hosts multiple podcasts, some of which have gone on to win awards. As It Occurs To Me was nominated for a Sony Radio Academy Award in 2010,{{cite web|url=http://www.comedy.co.uk/news/story/00000279/sony_radio_awards_2010_nominees/|title=Sony Radio Award nominees announced|publisher=British Comedy Guide|date=6 April 2010|access-date=7 April 2010}} Do The Right Thing won the Bronze Sony Award for "Best Internet Programme" in 2012,{{cite web|url=http://www.radioacademyawards.org/winners/2012/programme-awards/best-internet-programme/|title=Sony Radio Academy Award 2012: Best Internet Programme|publisher=Sony Radio Academy Awards|access-date=18 June 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224212911/http://www.radioacademyawards.org/winners/2012/programme-awards/best-internet-programme/|archive-date=24 December 2013}} Pappy's Flatshare Slamdown won the 2012 Loaded Lafta award for "Best Podcast",{{cite news|last=Mann|first=Andrea|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/02/09/laftas-loaded-comedy-awards_n_1264817.html|title=The Laftas 2012: Who Won What At Loaded Magazine's Comedy Awards|work=The Huffington Post|date=9 February 2012|access-date=18 June 2013}} and Richard Herring's Leicester Square Theatre Podcast won the Bronze Sony Radio Award for comedy in 2013.{{cite web|url=http://www.radioacademyawards.org/winners/index.cfm?winners_year=2013&winners_award_group_id=4&winners_award_category_id=35|title=Sony Radio Academy Award 2013: Best Comedy|publisher=Sony Radio Academy Awards|access-date=12 June 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130608134525/http://www.radioacademyawards.org/winners/index.cfm?winners_year=2013|archive-date=8 June 2013}}
In June 2013, an episode of Richard Herring's Leicester Square Theatre Podcast saw host Richard Herring interviewing Stephen Fry, in which Fry revealed that he had attempted to commit suicide. The story has been reported in the BBC and Sky News.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-22782913|title=Stephen Fry reveals he attempted suicide in 2012|work=BBC News|date=6 June 2013|access-date=12 June 2013}}{{cite news|url=http://news.sky.com/story/1099914/stephen-fry-reveals-2012-suicide-attempt|title=Stephen Fry Reveals 2012 Suicide Attempt|work=Sky News|date=6 June 2013|access-date=12 June 2013}}
The podcasts hosted by BCG are:{{cite web|url=http://www.comedy.co.uk/podcasts/|title=Podcasts|publisher=British Comedy Guide|access-date=18 June 2013}}
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable" | |
| style="background-color: #6699CC" width=75% | Name
! style="background-color: #6699CC" width=25% | Year | |
|---|---|
| style="background-color: #F2F2F2;" | | |
| style="background-color: #F2F2F2;" | | 2008–2011 |
| style="background-color: #FFFFFF;" | | 2009–2011 |
| style="background-color: #F2F2F2;" |
| What Are You Laughing At? | 2011–2014 |
| style="background-color: #FFFFFF;" | | 2011–present |
| style="background-color: #F2F2F2;" | | 2011–present |
| style="background-color: #FFFFFF;" |
| Pappy's Flatshare Slamdown | 2011–present |
| style="background-color: #F2F2F2;" | | 2011–2019 |
| style="background-color: #FFFFFF;" | | 2012–2013 |
| style="background-color: #F2F2F2;" |
| Live From Kirrin Island | 2012–2015 |
| style="background-color: #FFFFFF;" |
| Mat Ricardo's London Varieties | 2012–2013 |
| style="background-color: #F2F2F2;" |
| No Pressure To Be Funny | 2011–2015 |
| style="background-color: #FFFFFF;" | | 2012–present |
| style="background-color: #F2F2F2;" |
| The John Dredge Nothing To Do With Anything Show | 2013–2020 |
| style="background-color: #FFFFFF;" | | 2013–present |
| style="background-color: #F2F2F2;" |
| Richard Herring: We're All Going To Die | 2013 |
| style="background-color: #FFFFFF;" |
| Margaret Thatcher Queen of Podcasts | 2015 |
| style="background-color: #F2F2F2;" |
| Sitcom Geeks | 2015–2023 |
| style="background-color: #FFFFFF;" | | 2015–2022 |
| style="background-color: #F2F2F2;" |
| ManBuyCow | 2015–present |
| style="background-color: #FFFFFF;" |
| Richard Herring: Happy Now? | 2016 |
| style="background-color: #F2F2F2;" |
| Isy Suttie's The Things We Do For Love | 2016–present |
| style="background-color: #FFFFFF;" |
| The Adventures of Grett Binchleaf | 2016–present |
| style="background-color: #F2F2F2;" |
| Hayley & Ruth: Two Stars | 2016–present |
| style="background-color: #FFFFFF;" | |
Footnotes
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
- {{Official website| http://www.comedy.co.uk/}}
Category:British comedy websites